The present invention is directed to a method for producing fabrics with simulated tie-dye appearance. The fabrics produced by the method resemble conventional tie-dyed fabrics but have less symmetrical patterns and different patterns on opposite sides of the fabric. Since the method may be fully automated, the method is more efficient, requires less operator skill and time, and is therefore less costly than traditional tie-dying methods.
Traditional tie-dying methods involve the steps of manually tying fabric either on itself or with rubber bands or string, applying dye, and untying the fabric or removing the rubber bands or string to create a pattern conventionally recognized as a tie-dyed pattern. The resulting dyed pattern is generally a symmetrical, flower-like pattern which is uniform on both sides of the fabric. Since conventional tie-dyeing must be done manually, and requires both operator skill and time to achieve the desired effect, the dyeing of tie-dye patterns is relatively more expensive than conventional automated dyeing.
Another method for obtaining the "tie-dyed" look is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,151, issued Aug. 17, 1976 to Berg, et al. ("the '151 patent"). The '151 patent describes a method for producing a fabric having repeating patterns on both sides of the fabric. The method comprises folding or pleating a fabric, clamping the folded or pleated fabric so as to prevent dye access to portions of the fabric, dyeing the folded or pleated fabric, fixing the dye and unclamping the fabric. The dye migration is controlled by varying the temperature. As with traditional tie-dying methods, the '151 method is complex, time-consuming, and costly.
Other methods for dying fabrics to achieve a nonuniform result are described below. Although these patents describe processes for obtaining certain colored patterns, none of these methods achieve the desired "tie-dyed" look.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,915, issued Apr. 13, 1993 to Ricci ("the '915 patent"), describes a process for fading dyed textile products in a non-uniform way. This process involves coating fabric with a product which is resistant to bleaching or a discoloring chemical, breaking up the coating in a random way, bleaching or discoloring the fabric, and then removing the coating completely from the fabric so as to obtain a fabric which has discontinuous, random shaded/faded regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,468, issued Jan. 21, 1992 to Hopkins ("the '468 patent"), describes a method for pigmenting fabric surfaces to achieve a predetermined nonuniformly colored or faded appearance. This method involves treating moist garments with a pigment-containing foam composition which includes water, a dispersed pigment, auxiliary agents and a foaming agent, tumbling the treated garments in a tumbling machine, extracting the foam, and curing the garments by washing and drying.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,131, issued May 28, 1991 to Nitsch, Jr. ("the '131 patent"), describes a process for redyeing partially bleached fabrics or garments to yield sharply-etched multicolored designs. The method comprises dyeing a fabric, gathering selected areas of the fabric, bleaching the gathered background to remove the first dye color, redyeing the bleached area with a second color while leaving a white gap between the two dye colors, fixing the dye, and rinsing and washing the fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,941, issued Nov. 21, 1989 to Dixon ("the '941 patent"), describes a method of producing di-colored or multi-colored dyed fabrics containing randomly placed colors. The method comprises dispersing solvent dye in an oil medium, placing a gathered textile or fabric partially into contact with the oil dye, placing the textile or fabric into an aqueous medium having a dye dispersed therein such that the dye is absorbed into the fabric only where the fabric has not already absorbed the oil-based dye, and then washing the dyed fabric with cold water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,099, issued Oct. 27, 1981 to Simon, et al. ("the '099 patent"), describes a process for producing colored synthetic resin sheets wherein the dye coating on the resin sheets extends into the surface of the sheets in a uniform manner. The migration of the dye into the sheets is inhibited or controlled by the use of cross-linking agents. The method comprises applying dye to a resin sheet at an increased temperature in order to accelerate dye migration wherein dye migration promoters, such as plasticizers, can be utilized. Once the dye has migrated into the resin sheet to a desirable depth, cross-linking agents contained in the resin sheet are activated so as to inhibit the dye from migrating deeper into the resin sheet.